godfather_fanonfandomcom-20200213-history
Mexican Drug War
dark blue is Los Zetaz, light blue is Gulf Cartel, yellow is Sinaloa Cartel, orange is Beltran Leyva Cartel, green is La Familia Michoacana, green-brown is Juarez Cartel, and red is Tijuana Cartel]]The Mexican Drug War (2006-present) is an ongoing war between the government of Mexico (with support from the United States) and the powerful drug cartels that controlled large swathes of the country. The drug cartels had immense political power and were also strong militarily, and they influenced politics through bribery and assassinations. History Background The Colombian Civil War in Colombia allowed several cocaine cartels to take over much of the country in a war that is still ongoing, with the conflict beginning around 1964-1966 as FARC communist insurgents rose up against the corrupt government. In Mexico, the story was repeated. Colombian drugs were allowed to pass through Panama by dictator Manuel Noriega in the 1980s, allowing for cocaine to reach Central America and North America. The cocaine trade began in the late 1970s, and drugs flooded the streets of several cities in the Americas, particularly those with a large poor population. Mexico, a country that was still developing, had many impoverished farmers and unemployed people, and the government was corrupt. The poor people began to join armed cartels and gangs, and made money through the trade of cocaine and weapons. Cocaine headed into America, forcing the United States to recognize the threats of illegal Mexican and Central American immigration into America on the Rio Grande River border. The Gulf Cartel in Matamoros, Tamaulipas was dangerously close to Brownsville, Texas; the Juarez Cartel was a stone's throw away from the US border; the Tijuana Cartel was on the southern half of the border city that was also a part of America; and the other cartels used speedboats to traffick drugs into America. Creation of Los Zetas ]]The Mexican cartels existed since the 1970s and violence occurred into the '80s and '90s, but the creation of a rogue paramilitary group inevitably led to the crackdown on organized crime. Los Zetas was founded in the late 1990s by Arturo Guzman Decena as a unit of mercenaries fighting as the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel, mainly former soldiers or deserters. The Los Zetas group overtook their Sinaloa Cartel rivals in territory, having the largest cocaine empire in Mexico. They stretched from the US to Belize borders, with control over the coastline in addition to the Yucatan peninsula. The Los Zetas organization used narco-terrorism to intimidate its enemies, including the use of beheadings and other brutality instead of bribery. Only 50% of their income came from the cocaine trade, with the rest of their money coming from their actions against the rival cartels. The Los Zetas operated not only in Mexico, but also the US, Guatemala, and even Italy, and they became a technologically-advanced and sophisticated cartel. The Path to War With Mexican drug violence increasing, President Vicente Fox planned out an offensive against the cartels. His successor Felipe Calderon commanded the offensive, Operation Michoacan, with the goal of destroying the cartels. The attack was carried out by 12,000 Mexican army, navy, naval infantry, and federal police troops, and it specifically targeted the La Familia Michoacana and the Knights Templar Cartel. Its start was on 11 December 2006, and is ongoing, with the cartels in Michoacan being taken out. The war soon spread to the rest of Mexico, with government forces putting down the drug cartels, who fought back fiercely. Many cartel bosses were killed by the Navy or were captured, and by the start of 2007 it became apparent that there would be a civil war of sorts in Mexico, pitting the Mexican government, the pro-Los Zetas cartels, and the pro-Sinaloa cartels in a giant war. The War The Mexican police were attacked by the cartels in street battles, and some cartels such as Los Zetas used brutality to intimidate their enemies. However, many of the cartel leaders were killed by Mexican forces, usually Mexican Navy/Mexican Naval Infantry troops. The operations to kill the leaders usually involved heavy firepower such as helicopters and vehicles in addition to ground soldiers, as the cartels were well-equipped. The war tore the country apart, and in popular resorts such as Cancun, army soldiers were forced to walk on the beaches with shotguns. In 2011, La Familia Michoacana broke up after their leader was rumored to be killed, and the Beltran Leyva Cartel was also wiped out due to the killings or arrests of its leaders. Los Zetas split from the Gulf Cartel in 2010 and became its own cartel, leaving the Gulf Cartel with only a few bases along the Gulf of Mexico coast. Los Zetas emerged as the most powerful gang alongside their Sinaloa Cartel rivals, and a gang war began between the two. The gang warfare coincided with police attacks, and many leaders of the cartels were taken out in the early 2010s. Participants Category:Wars